Water, Water Everywhere

Yippee! I know I haven't posted videos in awhile, but I do take video actually.

Here are two videos from a recent trip out on Luvs2Boat's ski boat. Sooooo fun!

Disclaimer: These will only be interesting for those who really know me.

Disclaimer #2: It is very difficult to record on a moving ski boat. I did the best that I could.


When we pull Lulu behind the ski boat, Bro relaxes in my lap, as seen here.

Lulu's favorite part about being pulled behind the boat is "falling" off of her float. Here, she is kneeling on the tube, taunting/daring Luvs2Boat to knock her off of her float.

Note: :-) I tried something different and I saved the videos in a "for e-mail use" format which was supposed to make them easier to upload and e-mail. Alas, it looks like it ruined the quality a bit too. So, I'll never do that again!

Ta Ta For Now!

Best Effort

I am really trying to get some video of Bro walking. He doesn't walk that often. I kinda/sorta got some video of him walking here. You might remember that I said that he walks like Frankenstein: slow with his arms out front. Well, listen to his moaning in this video. It just accentuates his Frankenstein qualities.

I know, not that great, right. Well, I tried, again, to get some more video. This was the less-than-pleasant result. Note his oh-so-fake temper tantrum. Priceless!

The bottom line is that he is not near the ham that his sister is. He doesn't want to pose or perform for the camera. He wants to push the buttons on the camera. Which means that every time he sees the camera, he stops what he is doing to come take the camera away from me. So frustrating!

Here is a happy Bro. He's sitting in my rocking chair. He loves to rock in the chair, especially while reading books. He could (and has), in fact, sit here and look at these pictures and turn these pages for up to three hours (total time) in one day. This is, by far, his favorite activity (next to eating, that is).

Notice that he stops his reading/looking to point to the other books on the floor. I call him my little prince, making his demands from upon his throne.

Here is his favorite book, for now. He loves to feel the nest building up page-by-page and to see the mamma bird and her babies on the last page. Notice the big smile when he gets to the last page!

So, for today... no walking... lots of reading! Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

Recent activities

Just a few videos to pass the time away.

Here we have Lulu playing speed stacks. If you haven't heard, speed stacks is all the rage for this age group. She says that it is her favorite sport. There are rules that dictate exactly how to stack the cups. Anyways, you can see it here for yourself. She is playing with mini cups in the first video and standard cups in the second video. This gets really frustrating fun when Bro tries to play too interrupt her. (wink, wink)

This last clip is Bro playing in the sand over Valentine's Day weekend. Soon, I will have video of him walking!!!!!

p.s. As of the writing of this post, Bro is home sick with a 102 degree temperature. Yuck! The really disappointing news is that Lulu had her dance competition tonight and I am here with Bro (DH is working) instead of at her competition. It breaks my heart to not be there for her. I am sure that I am missing her more than she is missing me though. I would have loved to have seen her perform. :-(

p.p.s. A few days ago, we discovered that Bro really likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!!! So far, he doesn't seem to have a peanut allergy.

Winter ONEderland Cake

Before I got sick with the flu, we celebrated Bro's birthday. I made the Snowman cake and I was fairly happy with the results. If I had to do it all over again, I would add more of the sugar cubes. DH and Lulu agreed that he needed arms, which I did not add because I didn't really have a way to get them on once the snowman was iced. Plus, DH wanted me to make a 3-ball snowman; you notice that mine is only made of 2 balls (like the one that I was copying). Also, I don't know what happened, but the cake was a little lopsided.

Anyway, here he is.

"Happy Birthday to Bro."

Bro eats cake.

Here he is licking his plate. This clip is a bit staged because he stopped licking his plate right before we started filming.

All in all we had a great time. We offered lasagna for the meat eaters (store-bought but better than nothing). Our non-meat dishes included: hearty butternut squash and corn chowder, divine spinach salad, bountiful beer bread with ranch dip, and awesome artichoke spread with crackers. Thanks to everyone for the great veggie suggestions. Our nanny said that she does eat pizza, so we could have had pizza-for-1 (love it) but it just didn't turn out that way.

Is anyone else out there an amateur cake baker? I'd love to see your cakes.

Disney World. Saturday. Day 2. Performance Day.

Finally, we/I got to sleep in. We hung out at the resort during the day. Then, the girls stopped for a photo shoot and quick rehearsal before boarding the bus for Downtown Disney.

When we arrived to Downtown Disney we were greeted by wonderful weather, loads of visitors, and this sign.

Here are some Downtown Disney visitors awaiting the cheer performance.

Did I tell you that Daddy Warbucks came to see Lulu cheer?

And… here is Lulu’s Disney performance. There were more girls on the left of the stage, but my eyes were on Lulu. I apologize that the video is so grainy. I had to upload to YouTube and then upload to blogger because blogger wouldn't let me upload directly. Nonetheless, Lulu is in the front and just to the right of the high schooler that you see on the left of the screen.

We couldn’t leave Downtown before visiting the Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique for a Pop Princess makeover. Here are the results:

After the makeover we headed to Hollywood. I don't want to forget to mention the bus ride to the park. Lulu, Fairy Grandmother, I were on the bus with... these guys.

That's right - a bus load of 9, 10, and 11 year old football players. Halfway through the ride, Lulu looked over at one of the dads and said, "This is a train wreck waiting to happen!" She really said that; I am NOT kidding. He took it in stride and told her that he thought that her comment was funny and that she could read his mind. Ha! Ha! Ha!

We didn’t have much time to spend in Hollywood before it closed. We managed to view the Narnia experience and ride the Toy Story Mania ride. Apparently Toy Story Mania is one of their newest attractions and normally has a very long wait (up to 2 hours long in fact). We jumped into line 5 minutes before the park closed and waited 25 minutes to get to the ride. It was as great as I had expected and a highlight of the trip (but I wouldn't wait 2 hours to ride - no way).

We were advised not to leave the park before seeing the Osborne lights. Oh – they were magnificent!

Here is a picture...

and a video!

To be continued.

Disney World. Day 1. Continued.

After waking up Tinker Bell, we went on a few Fantasyland rides and left to have breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. It was a fabulous breakfast and much needed break. We ran into some friends while we were there.

Lulu and I played at MK for a few hours while Fairy Grandmother went back to the resort.

One of the highlights of the trip was the birth of Lulu's new penny collection. The idea is that you drop a penny (and 50 cents) into a machine and crank the handle of the machine. The machine presses a design onto the penny which you get to keep. Here she is... cranking out a Buzz Lightyear penny. We were constantly looking for penny machines around the park. Some machines were quarter press machines and they were very hard to crank.

Note to self: This is a fabulous idea. I spend 50 cents to get a penny... and it isn't even a penny that I can spend? Wonderful!?!?!

Then, Lulu and I made it back to the resort so that she could practice her cheer with the rest of the girls from around the country, most of whom were high schoolers.

Here is the video from practice. Lulu is in the front and wearing the pink shorts and white top. Whoa! This was very cool!

Finally, we were off to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. We had to pay extra for the party tickets but I would do it again in a heartbeat because: we got to see all of the characters dressed in their holiday attire, Cinderella’s castle was decorated with icicles, it was snowing on Main Street, there was hot chocolate and cookies to keep us warm and energized until midnightall night long, and there was a very short line to meet Tinkerbell in person.

Midnight: Caught a bus back to the resort. Very tired napmom.

Disney World. Day 1. Wake Up Tinker Bell

Our quest to wake up Tinker Bell felt more like a scene out of the Amazing Race. Our task was to be the first of 40,000-50,000 visitors to the Magic Kingdom to get to Tinker Bell’s Fairy Treasure store. We all got up and out of the room with plenty of time to spare. As we were waiting for the bus, Fairy Grandmother asked if I had the tickets to Magic Kingdom (MK). Whoops. Thus, I had to run all the way to our room to get the tickets (through the hotel lobby, past the pool, past the football field, past the baseball field/pool, and down a lengthy hall – and back). As I came back through the lobby and rounded the corner I saw that a bus had already arrived and Fairy Grandmother was stalling the bus while acting like she was going to get on but really just kinda loitering at the stop. Luckily, I made it on the bus with the MK tickets in hand.

Once we arrived to MK, we weaved our way to the front of the crowd. This was fairly easy because we just had the three of us and didn’t have to contend with strollers and such. After the opening ceremony, the masses (including moi) were permitted to enter MK. We bee-lined for Tinker Bell's Fairy Treasure store, which is located just behind Cinderella's castle.

This is where I stop the story to give credit to Fairy Grandmother who was speed walking though the crowd. Seriously, I could not keep up – I have a desk job and the closest I get to a cardio workout is getting up from my chair to see what kind of goodies have been left up front for me to eat. This was NOT the task for me.

Once we got to the castle, we scooted to the back of the castle where we were greeted with a rope barrier because they were not letting visitors past the castle. At this point, we had Tinkerbell’s Fairy Treasure store in our sight but we were blocked by the rope barrier.

We waited patiently and finally, when the ropes were removed, we headed into the store where Lulu found the first Cast Member she saw and proudly asked, “May I wake up Tinker Bell?”



I was holding my breath. The cast member smiled and told Lulu that she certainly could wake up Tinker Bell. Yippee!

To wake up Tinker Bell, you ring a special bell while calling out, “Wake up Tinker Bell! Wake up Tinker Bell!” Also, we were told that you must believe in fairies for this to work. Here is a video of Lulu waking up Tinker Bell.

I did not know how long this wake-up procedure would take so I did stop filming. Eventually, Tinker Bell popped up in the little box. She yawned and stretched and then disappeared because she was headed out to visit other parts of the park

Lulu was also presented with this certificate for her Certifiable Magic Moment at the Disney World resort

and she was topped off with some pixie dust before we left the store.

"All you need is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust." Peter Pan

Napmom’s Note: Only one person can wake up Tinker Bell each day. There are no second chances. You must arrive early because there will be dozens of eager moms and girls on your heels waiting to wake up Tinker Bell. Some such visitors arrived shortly after we woke up Tinker Bell. These visitors were told that Tinker Bell had already been woken up but they were given the chance to “call her back” by ringing the same bell and calling out “Come back Tinker Bell” which was still very special!

Bro - short clips

Here are some short clips of Bro. He is turning out to be such a ham.



First, this is a nightly ritual of Treasure Hunting in Mommy's purse. Oftentimes he finds a treasure, such as a pen. Today it looks like he is after the checkbook. Like father, like son.

Here is a quick game of peek-a-boo and a good-bye wave. His latest tricks!

I have been trying to get this face and sound on video for days now. This is the face that he makes when he gets real excited. He starts to pant and gets a real surprised look on his face and says, "ooooohhhhhh" over and over again. He just recently discovered clementines and wants to eat them with every meal, as you can see here.

That's all we have for now. Oh, and he is sprouting some top teeth!!!

Thanksgiving

I'd hate to start off with this picture, but here goes. See anything different? My hair -- it's black! I did ask the hair dresser to get my hair back to its original color (whatever that may be), but I was not thinking black. Maybe it wouldn't be so shocking if I hadn't been nearly blond for the past few years. Will anyone at work even recognize me? By the way, she (the hair dresser) also noted that my hair is more than 20% gray. Isn't that a bit much for someone who has only been around the sun a mere 33 times????????

Here is Lulu showing off her new manicure. That is, if she would just stop biting her nails (where have I heard THAT before) then she could have nice and pretty real nails that don't fall off.

Luvs2Boat snagging a few calamata olives while his sisters aren't looking!

Fairy Grandmother, spending some quality time with Bro.

Yes, it was a most wonderful Thanksgiving indeed! Oddly enough, I did not over stuff my stomach with fall harvest this year. Don't know why. The food was delicious!!!!! I made my famous corn casserole and Aunt Mitzi's cranberry salad. (recipes in separate post -- coming soon). It was wonderful to visit with everyone and catch up on the goings-ons!

After dinner we did get to go outside and watch...

this beautiful sunset.

Lulu showed off her one-handed cartwheel.

At last count, I think that we had some 20+ family members at Grammy's house for our festive turkey feast. Just the way I like it!

While we were there, Bro discovered Gramm's rocking chair.

And he had a great time visiting with cousin J again. (I know that this isn't the best picture but it is extremely difficult to get a good picture of these fast-moving tots)

Remember that we were going to create a 'thankful tree' on Thanksgiving? We cut out leaf shapes and asked everyone to write one note of thanks on each leaf and attach it to the branch. It was a big hit. I haven't quite decided on how to preserve the leaves from this year. Any ideas?

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is “good,” because is it good, if “bad” because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.~ C. S. Lewis

Weekend

This post is dedicated to the my wonderful friends and family who baked goods for the cheer bake sale this weekend. The bake sale is part of our Athletic Council's Homecoming weekend and the proceeds are used to benefit the cheer program of which Lulu has proudly been a part of for 3 seasons now.

If you don't already know, Lulu started cheering several years ago because one of her friends was going to cheer and they thought that they might try it out together. I have to laugh at how this all started out. We actually thought that Lulu might not want to cheer; I actually expected that she wouldn't like cheering. Well, we have tried several sports and activities other than cheering, throughout the years, but she ALWAYS goes back to cheering. Quite simply stated, cheering is Lulu's passion.

This weekend, Lulu cheered at two football games. Here she is cheering on her team! (This is a video.) Lulu is the girl wearing a black/red/white jacket.

We jokingly say that Lulu travels with her own cheering squad, because she has such a large and dedicated fan club family. Here we are, again, lined up to watch her cheer. Pictured from left to right: Dear Husband/Daddy-d, Grandmommy, Grandpa, and Daddy (aka Daddy Warbucks). Present, but not pictured: Fairy Grandmother, Bro, and Mommy.

During the game, Fairy Grandmother shared one of her famous oatmeal raisin cookies with Bro.

The boys were tired of watching the cheerleaders. Dear Husband and Bro snuck off to get a look at some football action.

At half-time, Bro and Co. had to leave because it was past his bedtime. Lulu was sure to give him a big hug and kiss before he left.

Much thanks to our baker family and friends: Fairy Grandmother - oatmeal raisin cookies and rice crispy bars; Top Chef - chocolate chip mint cookies; and Grandmommy - chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes.

I'm still here!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I have just been crazy swamped. I need to go to bed, but I have to upload this video of Bro and Lulu. They were laughing so hard that I just had to get a video of the two of them together.

Coming soon - pics of our trip to the Baltimore Aquarium, including our live encounter with one of the inhabitants, and pics of Lulu cheering.

Pink Clover cookies

Inspired by Horton's pink clover, Lulu recently made Horton Hears a Who cookies.

First, I (mommy) made the cookies by using some store bought sugar cookie dough. Then, Lulu added pink food coloring to the coconut and melted the white chocolate. Each cookie was topped with a "speck" to represent Whoville.

Note: When Lulu helps me cook in the kitchen, she has to do it "Food Network Style." That is, she has to moderate what she is doing for her viewing audience, regardless of the fact that we never HAVE a viewing audience. This doesn't seem to matter much to Lulu. Here she is, in the clip below, demonstrating how to assemble Who pink clover cookies. (Finally, she has a viewing audience.) If you listen closely, you will hear her say that she assembles these the same way that she assembles her mini pizzas. That is true, the assembly is the same except that the pizzas include a small cracker, red sauce, and mozz cheese.

For your viewing pleasure, our very own Food Network Star...

Yum!!!!